About Kristen
I’m Kristen Kolakowski, curator of wonder and transformation, and your guide through the Wonder Room Experience.
I created WonderWorks because I believe we’re in a crisis of wonder in our culture — especially when it comes to solving our most challenging problems or asking our biggest questions.
And I’m on a mission to bring that lost wonder back.
Over the past 15+ years, I’ve helped thousands of leaders and creatives like you create change through my work as a leadership trainer, professional facilitator, and executive coach. I’ve helped Fortune 100, non-profit, academic and federal government organizations achieve better results by transforming the way they think, lead and collaborate.
I’m incredibly proud of my clients’ hard work — and their hard-won results. Yet, one day I had an epiphany…
“What if we didn’t have to ‘wrestle’ with problems?
What if arriving at game-changing revelations didn’t have to be such hard work?”
It was then I stumbled upon the lost tradition of Renaissance Wonder Rooms and something inside of me woke up. The missing catalyst for deep insight and transformation, I realized… is wonder.
The more I learned about Wonder Rooms — also known as Cabinets of Curiosity — the more I discovered how this awe-inspiring 500-year old tradition has the power to help people get creative, clear, and connected on what matters most.
The problem I’d personally been wrestling with — “What’s next for me, professionally?” — became crystal clear in an instant.
I set out to create a revolutionary alternative to modern-day problem solving and decision making. I call it the Wonder Room Experience, and I called my company WonderWorks.
Because wonder works.
Just imagine never again having to…
✖ Stare at a blinking cursor for hours, willing a creative idea to come.
✖ Make strategic decisions with pro-and-con lists and ad nauseum discussion.
✖ “Hash out” product ideas on flip charts in cold meeting rooms.
✖ Let go of your vision because you just can’t “figure out” how to take the next step.
✖ Push yourself to the point of burnout in order to get a breakthrough.
Instead, with the power of wonder, you could…
✔ Wake up to your vision and take action to create it.
✔ Smash through the obstacles holding you back and unleash your highest potential.
✔ See your problem in a new light and naturally arrive at an unexpected solution.
✔ Get clarity and courage to pursue a promising opportunity.
✔ Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you’ve imagined.*
*in the words of Thoreau
As your guide through your extraordinary Wonder Room Experience, I’ll show you how.
What is the Wonder Room Experience and how does it work?
Wonder Rooms, also known as Cabinets of Curiosity, were the Renaissance precursor to the modern museum; stunning repositories meant to represent the universe in microcosm.
In these rooms, great thinkers, scientists, artists, and even the likes of Leonardo da Vinci gathered around these category-defying objects to gaze in wonder, gain new perspectives, and unearth powerful discoveries.
Click here to dive deeper into the history of Wonder Rooms.
Today, we invite you to enter into our modern adaptation of a Renaissance Wonder Room — an immersive encounter with intriguing objects, custom-curated to ignite your wonder in an entertaining and unexpected way.
At the end of your guided journey, you’ll walk away with a totally unexpected solution to your challenge, a powerful plan to take action, and supportive new connections to help you follow through.
(If it worked for da Vinci, just imagine what it will do for you!)
How could this modern adaptation of a 500-year-old tradition get such transformational results?
Here’s what the research tells us about the power of wonder and awe:
✦ Intentionally seeking the feeling of awe can improve memory, boost creativity and relieve anxious rumination.
✦ We crave mystery and ambiguity, disorientation and puzzles. Yet finding these takes a lot in our explicit, digital world.
✦ That’s where immersion in an unfamiliar setting comes in. We feel wonder and awe when we engage all of our senses in an encounter with the mysterious. We become more present. We observe things more closely. We get more relaxed and curious.
This lights up powerful parts of our brain that can solve complex problems in the blink of an eye. We delight in insights we get from this open state — much more than when we think logically.
✦ We have a very special, underappreciated relationship with objects. We project things onto them. We get attached to them because they symbolize deep elements of our thinking and feeling - our intuition, and our personal story. We don’t see objects the way they are. We see them the way we are.
✦ Sharing wondrous experiences builds bonds between us. And we have an amazing ability to quickly see solutions in each others’ situations that we can’t see for ourselves.
✦ All of these things spell insight and connection. Genuine, fresh perspective that really resonates for us, motivates us to new action. And a deepened sense of understanding and trust between those who go through the experience together.
Bottom line: When we’re stuck, thinking harder won’t uncover our most creative insights or expand our potential.
If you’re ready to stress less, wonder more, and break through with the power of wonder, let’s do this together…